HUG Corner: Thought for the Week 9/18/17

Healing After Loss (Martha Whitmore Hickman)

“Great peace is found in little busy-ness.”

– Chaucer

“Such a monumental event has occurred. Our response to it is so total; we are devastated.

What can we do, faced as we are with this tidal wave of feeling and change?

Nothing big. Nothing monumental.

At first we will do what is required of us: make arrangements, plan services, greet our friends, think about food and lodging for people who may have come from out of town.

But when all that is over – then what?

First, rest. And then, find things to do.

It will be no problem, finding things to do. The effort will be doing them. They may seem futile – why sew on a button when my world has fallen apart? Why rake the leaves when the future looks bleak and I don’t care about the lawn?

But as we begin to busy ourselves – in small, productive tasks – we will find some of our free-floating confusion and sorrow being absorbed, like water into a sponge, into the task we are performing. We will begin to think in terms of what we might want to do next, maybe even make some new plans for the future. Our hearts will grow lighter; our steps will quicken. A yes to life, after all.

Today I will do one ‘optional’ thing.”